Media Participation Project

For my media participation project, I wrote an opinion piece for the Diamondback about Vegetarianism. Prior to this, I attended general story assignment meetings which take place every Sunday in the South Campus dining hall at 8pm. When I first attended these meetings, I was there to observe how the story assignment process worked. Once I understood this process, I decided to take matters into my own hands and write my own opinion piece, which I could submit to opinionumdbk@gmail.com.

I chose to write an opinion piece because that way, I could write about something that I am passionate about to the degree of my liking. I understood that not all opinion pieces are published prior to writing the article, and was okay with that because the purpose of this project was to understand the basics of what it takes to be a journalist.

Writing the opinion piece influenced my journalistic aspirations in that it affirmed my intention to pursue print media. While I do not necessarily feel passionately about opinion writing in general, writing the article gave me a sense of what it is like to express yourself in a biased manner for a news organization. It motivated me to become more involved within the Diamondback, to the point where I actually picked up a story at the general assignment meeting this past Sunday.

Despite not wanting to take up opinion writing specifically, I do know that I would like to continue participating in the Diamondback as a result of the article that I have written. Writing an opinion piece was a new experience, and has even encouraged me to explore other aspects of journalism within different media organizations on campus.